Sudan’s interim military council fires three top public prosecutors

The head of Sudan’s ruling Transitional Military Council (TMC) has fired the country’s three highest-ranking public prosecutors, the council said on Tuesday, after protesters demanded an overhaul of the judiciary as a step toward civilian government.

The Sudanese Professionals’ Association (SPA), a group spearheading the popular revolt, has issued a long list of demands for wholesale change to end repression and ease an economic crisis after the military deposed veteran autocrat Omar al-Bashir last week.

In a statement, the TMC said council chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan had sacked chief prosecutor Omar Ahmed Mohamed Abdelsalam and deputy public prosecutor Hesham Othman Ibrahim Saleh, as well as head of public prosecutions Amer Ibrahim Majid.

Alwaleed Sayed Ahmed Mahmoud was appointed to carry out Abdelsalam’s duties, it said. Mahmoud’s background was not immediately known.

In its first news conference on Monday, the SPA – which led months of protests that led to Bashir’s overthrow after 30 years in power – called for the TMC to be dissolved in favor of an interim civilian ruling council with military representatives.

It also called for Abdelsalam’s removal along with the chief of the judiciary and his deputies, and added that mass protests would not cease until the demands were met.

The judiciary chief was not mentioned in the TMC statement.

On Tuesday, a Reuters witness said hundreds of University of Khartoum professors carrying signs reading “civilian transitional government” and “democracy” marched to a sit-in protest outside the Defense Ministry that began on April 6.

Academics are among the most respected people in Sudanese society, adding powerful symbolism to the march.

A delegation from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates met with TMC chief Burhan in Khartoum on Tuesday, according to a council statement.

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